Philly yesterday slowly dug out from the third massive snowstorm of the season, although its aftermath lingered, and the possibility of more snow looms.
City government and courts will reopen today, although public and parochial schools remain closed for the third day in a row.
“The city of Philadelphia is back open for business,” Mayor Nutter said last night. “The storms have cleared just in time for Valentine’s Day weekend.”
To get people out in the city this weekend and next, SEPTA and the Philadelphia Parking Authority will be offering promotions. Among them: parking meters will be free through Tuesday and some SEPTA fares will be discounted at night and on weekends. For more details check www.septa.org or www.philapark.org.
Another 16-plus inches fell at Philadelphia International Airport on Wednesday, bringing the tally for the season to a record-breaking 72 inches. The previous record was the winter of 1995-1996, when 65.5 inches coated the city.
And there’s a chance of snow again early next week. Nutter said the city would deal with that if it comes.
Crews were busy clearing streets yesterday. Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson said about a 1,000 miles had been cleared, with plans to clear all 2,180 miles of city streets.
Meanwhile, Peco Energy was dealing with power outages. About 200,000 households in the region lost power due to the storm, said Peco spokesman Fred Maher. Late yesterday he said 40,000 homes were still without power, 5,000 of them in Philadelphia.
Maher said it would take a couple of days to fully restore power.
There were some storm-related fatalities. Two unidentified city men – one, 65, from Kensington; the other, 66, from the Northeast – died after suffering heart attacks while shoveling, city Health Department spokesman Jeff Moran said yesterday.
They died between Wednesday night and yesterday morning, Moran said.
The total cost for the three storms remains unknown. Snow removal for the 23-inch storm in December cost the city $3.4 million, but the tab for the two storms over the past week has not been tallied.
Nutter said that cleanup was his duty, whatever the cost.
“We’re mindful of the fiscal impact, but when you have public-safety issues, you do what you have to do,” he said.
He said the city hopes it will be eligible for federal aid, noting that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano called him Wednesday to talk about the impact of the rough winter on Philadelphia.
“We will aggressively pursue whatever resources that will be available,” Nutter said.
Gov. Rendell yesterday said the state was still compiling information from municipalities to see if Pennsylvania might be eligible for federal aid for snow costs.
By CATHERINE LUCEY
Philadelphia Daily News
luceyc@phillynews.com 215-854-4172
Staff writer Dana DiFilippo contributed to this report.
